To Hell With That Housewife

Terry Mattingly

For many mainstream ministers, it's a moment of humor, celebration and a touch of world-weary
irony.

It's the rite at the end of the white wedding, long after the symbolic handoff of the blushing
bride from the father to the groom, the litany of modernized vows and the lifting of the bride's
veil. That's when the minister gives the new husband permission, at last, to "kiss the bride."

The typical minister must feel a flash of shame as he or she is "forced into the role of a sexual
naif primly instructing a young man who has been living with his girlfriend for the past three
years that he may 'kiss the bride.' Well why not? He's been doing God knows what else to her since
the night they met at the softball league happy hour."